Investigators report 14 injured journalists in Yerevan

The Investigating Committee of Armenia has reported about 14 injured mass media professionals. The affected journalists, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, assert that their attackers during clashes knew that they were beating up mass media workers.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 17, supporters of the "Constituent Parliament" captured the building of the police patrol-and-post service (PPS) regiment, and managed to keep it till July 31. On July 29, rebels' supporters held a march, which was dispersed by the police cordon, which had been set up near the captured building. As a result, on July 30, 55 marchers and four policemen were hospitalized. Some journalists were also injured during the dispersal of the march.

Marut Vanyan, an operator of the "Lragir.am", said that when he was filming clashes in the Sari Tagh District, two men in civilian clothes, ran up to him, "grabbed me, dragged behind the police cordon and started beating up."

Vanyan said that they kicked him and beat up with thick sticks and felled tree branches.

"I showed them my journalist's ID, but they pulled it out and threw away; then, they took away my camera and went on beating me," said Marut Vanyan.

Robert Ananyan, a journalist of the "A1+", said that "this time, just journalists were policemen's targets; and they were beaten up deliberately and purposefully." Ananyan has commented on the statement of the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who apologized to journalists for the events at night on July 30.

"This is the most significant omission of these days. Of course, conclusions will be drawn. By bringing my apologies, I ask – journalists, not law enforcers, – to forget about these events, because I'm sure that this will never happen again," said Serzh Sargsyan.

Robert Ananyan "does not believe that such cases will not happen again in the future, because no president's promises have been fulfilled."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.